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Thursday, April 23, 2015

"Greece's Eerie Calm" by Nikos Kostandaras

"To
avoid rifts in his party, save face over unrealistic promises he made to voters
and underline that he will not be “blackmailed,” Mr. Tsipras prefers to risk a
breakup with creditors, which could destroy the economy.Relishing
their rise to power, he and his party display intransigence while demanding
compromise. They either have unshakable confidence that they will get their
way, or blind faith that, as time runs out, others will care more about the
Greek people than they appear to and will step in to avert disaster".

8 comments:

Fair anger fills all of us, who really care, and who have been seen as violent attackers of this insane government. It is asking now even more mental strength of "us", NOT to be too quick in willing to help where PM Tsipras fails, and/or is taking highly dangerous (fatal) risks to win, whatever it takes. Even to sacrifice an entire country.

There is still a pitfall in all who are still supporting this government, now, and "after", also after "we" have taken all responsibilities, that are not even "our" responsibilities, but which belong to Mr. Tsipras and his Greek fans.

So: WHAT is REAL help?WHEN to act, or react?And... HOW?I wish all EU leaders very wise guardian angels.May EU, and Greece, be blessed.May the spirit of the wise Greeks, of the time of Classical Greece, be with Europe, its peoples and leaders, via sending their deep insight, knowledge, gnosis, from wherever they are or might be now.

Klaus, could you please explain how default of the Greek state could destroy the economy?

Imho part of the economy already has been destroyed in the past years and there would be some turmoil now. But after that, with tourism and a revitalized agriculture, Greece should be in a position to regain stability?

The default per se is not the issue. Instead, the issue is whether something the kind comes orderly or disorderly. An orderly default would, at minimum, require close communication and coordination with creditors. Example: if the Troika and Greece announced in a joint press conference that they have consensually agreed that the best thing for Greece would be to default on debt owed to official lenders and that the Greek banking system would continue to receive ECB support, the day after that announcement might be a rather ordinary day. And as long as Greece can pay all the other bills, it should stay that way.

Thanks Klaus! Most probably EU will not follow the advice of Giscard d’Estaing and therefore the default would not be consensually.

So if everyone does grab for the cookie jar, and I wonder what this means? Restricted capital flow across Greek borders, banks without further help from ECB, maybe a few banks also defaulting.Greek state paying new debts by freshly printed Drachma, tourism flourishing due to price reduction compared to previous situation.

"... blind faith that, as time runs out, others will care more about the Greek people than they [Syriza and Anel] appear to and will step in to avert disaster."

One is reminded of Bertolt Brechts play "The Caucasian Chalk Circle", where the real mother cannot pull as she does not want to hurt her child.

Syriza and Anel are just enjoying to play their ideological and narcissistic power games as long as possible, and do not care that they are slowly killing the Greek economy, and impoverishing the state bodies and local authorities to the bare bones.

When it is all over people like Varoufakis will just return to their foreign universities, write new books, give grandios speeches for high fees, and spend cosy summer holidays in Athens and Loutro, while the rest of the country is in shambles.